From: crispen@NETSQUIRREL.COM
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
To: TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: TOURBUS -- 27 AUGUST 1998 -- THE DISNEY EMAIL TRACING PROGRAM STORY
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TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S):
THE DISNEY EMAIL TRACING PROGRAM STORY
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESSES:
http://www.tourbus.com/archive/tb121197.txt
http://www.tourbus.com/archive/tb021298.txt
http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/columns/1998Essay/3-25col.htm
Howdy, y'all! If you are like me, your email inbox is currently
overflowing with stories about Disney's new email tracing program.
Send an email message to all of your friends and Disney will give you
either US$5000 or a free trip to Disney World.
Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Well, it is. The story is
yet another in a long string of email tracing story hoaxes that have
been floating around the Net for the past year. Today's TOURBUS post
exposes this hoax, and gives you a look at how this hoax has
developed over the past ten months.
Before we get to that, though, I want to thank today's sponsors for
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On with the show ...
-----------------------------------------------------
THE BILL GATES/NIKE/AND NOW DISNEY EMAIL TRACING HOAX
-----------------------------------------------------
I recently found a quote that describes my feelings towards people who
create Internet hoaxes:
"They haven't got Brains, any of them, only grey fluff that's
blown into their heads by mistake ..."
-- Eeyore, The House at Pooh Corner
Around the end of last year, someone thought it would be funny to
create a false story announcing that Bill Gates had "written up an e-
mail tracing program." The story went on to say that if you forwarded
a particular email letter "to everyone you know ... everyone on the
list will receive $1000 at [Bill Gates'] expense." I called Microsoft
shortly after I received this message in December of 1997, and George
Shaw, a spokesperson for Microsoft, told me the story is "officially
not true." [see http://www.tourbus.com/archive/tb121197.txt]
By February of 1998, additional "fluff-brains" had rewritten the Bill
Gates email tracing program hoax/story. The first new version said
that, in addition to US$1000, Mr. Bill was also going to send the
first thousand people who respond to his email a free copy of Windows
98 (a.k.a. "Macintosh 87"). The second version congratulated you for
being one of the first thousand people to respond to Bill's email, and
tells you that all you need to do to claim your prize is to reply
with your credit card number and expiration date so that Bill can
credit your account. Obviously, neither of the new versions of the
Bill Gates email tracing program hoax/story was true [see
http://www.tourbus.com/archive/tb021298.txt]. Bill Gates himself even
said that the whole thing is, and I quote, "hooey" [see
http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/columns/1998Essay/3-25col.htm]
A few weeks later, another fluff-brain thought it would be funny to
change the Bill Gates email tracing program hoax/story to say that
apparel maker Nike is "offering free Nike shoes and clothing" to
people who help Nike test Microsoft's e-mail tracing program [see
http://www.tourbus.com/archive/tb022698.txt]. For the record, Nike's
response was that "reports of a Nike 'software testing' promotion are
false."
Last week, the Bill Gates/Nike email tracing program hoax/story
reappeared, this time under the Disney flag. The new version says
that Disney is helping Microsoft test a new email tracing program and
if you forward a particular email message
to everyone you know and if it reaches 13,000 people, 1,300 of
the people on the list will receive $5,000, and the rest will
receive a free trip for two to Disney World ...
The message is signed by "Walt Disney Jr., Disney, Bill Gates, & The
Microsoft Development Team." For the record, Walt Disney did not have
any sons; he only had only daughters. So, unless one of his daughters
recently had a little "surgery" in Sweden, there is no "Walt Disney
Jr." In addition, a call to Disney's Corporate Relations earlier
today (26 August 1998) confirmed what we have already known for
months: the Bill Gates/Nike/Disney email tracing program hoax/story is
simply not true.
Many people who have redistributed the Bill Gates/Nike/Disney email
tracing program hoax have asked, "who could it hurt?" Unfortunately,
the answer is *THEM*! Procter & Gamble has recently been dealing with
a similar urban legend (the P&G urban legend says a P&G executive
proclaimed his love of Satan on the Donahue show, and asks everyone to
boycott P&G's products). Procter & Gamble's response? So far, they
have filed and won over a dozen lawsuits against people who have
spread this false story.
While Microsoft, Nike, or Disney has not filed a lawsuit against
anyone (yet), if you receive the Bill Gates/Nike/Disney email tracing
program story from one of your friends, it would be a good idea if you
talked that friend into making a public retraction AS QUICKLY AS
POSSIBLE.
------------------------------
CAN I RESISTRIBUTE TODAY POST?
------------------------------
Absolutely! In fact, you are welcome to forward this (or any other)
TOURBUS post to as many people as you want (the more, the merrier!).
I do have a small favor to ask, though: if you redistribute today's
post, please
1. Make sure that the people to whom you redistribute today's
post know that the post was sent to them by you, not me.
2. Give credit where credit is due (you'd be shocked at the
number of commercial newspapers who have plagiarized my recent
TOURBUS posts).
3. Include the subscription information at the bottom of today's
post (and if you can throw in a few words to your friends
about how great TOURBUS is and how they REALLY need to hop on
the bus, that would be even better).
------------------------
SOUTHERN WORD OF THE DAY
------------------------
TILE (noun). Something found in a bathroom.
Usage: "Mercy! You're SOAKED. Go get a tile!"
(Special thanks to Rex Chilcote for today's wurd)
You can find *ALL* of the old Southern Words of the day here.
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(\__/) .' ) )) Patrick Douglas Crispen
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